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This bomb casing was presented as evidence during the trial of Louis Lingg, one of the eight men accused of homicide after the Haymarket bombing, in December 1887. It was supposedly manufactured by Lingg. After the trial, Captain Michael Schaack, an officer involved in the investigation, gave it to juror J.H. Brayton, whose family donated it to the Chicago Historical Society in 1979.

Curatorial Statement

This bomb casing was one of many weapons produced as evidence during the trial of the Haymarket anarchists. During a violent confrontation between anarchists and police in Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886 a bomb was thrown, killing a police officer. During the resulting public outcry, the police arrested eight anarchists to stand trial for homicide. The dramatic public trial high-lighted tensions between the workers and middle class, immigrants and nativists, and various political groups. Because of the publicity and emotion surrounding the incident and trial, finding an objective jury proved impossible, and seven of the eight anarchists were soon convicted and sentenced to death. Louis Lingg, who allegedly created this bomb and others thrown during the incident, was among them. He committed suicide before he was hung.